The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies that have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet or Web related distribution of documents. The Web of Internet, which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached “critical mass” and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents and media through the Web. Also, as a result of the rapid expansion of the Web, E-Mail, which has been distributed for over 25 years over smaller private and specific purpose networks, has moved into distribution over the Web because of the vast distribution channels that are available.
The availability of extensive E-Mail distribution channels has made it possible to keep all necessary parties in business, government and public organizations completely informed of all transactions that they need to know about at almost nominal costs. However, there can be too much of a good thing. The availability of cheap E-Mail has led to an undesirable proliferation of E-Mail that many executive, management, professional and technical individuals are forced to handle. Our concern for this proliferation of E-Mail is not directed to conventional junk mail, i.e. E-Mail with subject matter in which the receiver has little or no interest. There are currently available a variety of application programs by which the user may filter out undesirable junk mail through the application of selected criteria appropriate to the user.
The E-Mail subject matter creating the proliferation problem to which the present invention is directed is often subject matter of great interest to the parties receiving copies or forwards of the E-Mail documents. However, it may be completely unnecessary and even totally inappropriate to send copies of the E-Mail on particular transactions to certain individuals. The need to limit E-Mail distribution would be obvious in adversarial relations, such as contract or litigation negotiations where there has been a history of E-Mail distribution to several parties on both sides. Under such circumstances, it may be critical for the originator or sender of the E-Mail document to prevent parties on the adverse side from receiving copies of proofs or new proposals that his side is still developing.
Of even greater significance is the problem of proliferation of E-Mail to higher level executives and managers in organizations on transactions that are being dealt with on lower levels and for which there is no need to know at the higher level. Such involvement of higher level management often interferes with the need in most effective lean present day business organizations to spread responsibility downward. In other circumstances, groups of individuals sharing responsibilities will divide the transactions among themselves and decide that they do not need to keep each other mutually informed. However, in both of these business management situations, recipients of E-Mail documents down the line, even in the same business organization, are unaware of divisions of responsibility between the personnel and forward copies to parties who do not need to know and do not want to know. It is the frequent lament of management people that they have to spend hours upon hours going through often unnecessary E-Mail.
Most current E-Mail applications do provide for a blanket “Do Not Copy” to completely preclude the copying of particularly sensitive E-Mail documents, but such an expedient is not a solution to the problems described above.